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Thursday, October 6, 2016

India’s premiere research
institute, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and alfaTKG, has jointly launched
'Internet of Things (IoT), India Development Centre (IDC) today in Bengaluru.

As part of the MINI industry
4.0, which aims at assisting the growth of small and medium industry, the City
based IISc has launched this IDC in its premises.

The centre is expected to play
a crucial role in providing the digital assistance to the entrepreneurs and
enabling them to compete with their global counterparts.

The manufacturing sector, which was so far guided
by the skilled art, has also now entered into the digital phase. However it
requires a right decision to introduce a right technology in the manufacturing
sector to meet the global contest.

The IDC at IISc will be helping the entrepreneurs
to realise their dreams as well as ensure the success of the union government's
ambitious 'Make in India' project.

The 'Make in India' project is aimed at rapid
industrial growth. The country is all set to become one of the largest
industrial hubs in the world. The centre at IISc along with alfaTKG will
provide technological support to Industrial sector.

PwC India and Microsoft
India have formed a strategic alliance that will help industry harness some of
the core competencies of both firms. This strategic partnership between
Microsoft and PwC will empower the digital transformation of large and
mid-sized organizations in India by leveraging Microsoft’s technology
expertise and PwC’s strategy capabilities across sectors and competencies,
including taxation, smart cities and digital India programs.

PwC has also joined
Microsoft’s Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) Program which will enable them to
provide their advisory and other solutions at scale, securely to all their
customers .

Speaking about the
association, Deepak Kapoor,
Chairman, PwC India network of entities,said, “Our alliance of going to the market
together is a step towards helping corporates in their technology enabled
strategic transformation. For this, PwC will bring in its global expertise
across industries and its strategy through execution capabilities to complement
Microsoft's technological capabilities.”

Talking about the association, Bhaskar
Pramanik, Chairman, Microsoft India, said, “We are excited to partner
with PwC. They will be the first Advisory company who will be part of the
Microsoft Cloud Services Program in India. Organisations and communities in
India recognise the transformative power of technology and see it as an enabler
to amplify the change that we all seek. The combination of Microsoft’s cloud
offerings and PwC’s reach across India, will accelerate cloud adoption in India
and enable the digital transformation of businesses.”

Sudhir Singh Dungarpur,
Advisory TICE Leader, PwC India said,“PwC and Microsoft have been working together
for several years in various sectors and technology areas. This agreement is
natural extension of this partnership, where we join hands to help the industry
realise their Digital vision.”

PwC will extend
Microsoft’s outreach to organisations of all sizes and across many industries -
Financial Services (Banking & Insurance), Government & Public Sector,
Manufacturing, Consumer Goods and Durables, Retail / eCommerce, Healthcare
and Pharma- to help start their cloud and digital journey.

PwC India has launched its Digital Experience Centre (DEC) in
Bengaluru. This experience centre provides a unique ecosystem combining the
best of industry knowledge, experience in business transformation and creative imagination
fuelled by people with diverse skill sets. The DEC enables rapid and scalable
prototyping which can be tested and deployed to clients within a few days
versus the standard industry norm of few months. Thereby bringing in efficiency
in terms of time, investment and opportunity cost.

·Maximising business value by developing
and executing result oriented strategies

·Creating superior user experiences by
understanding and empathising with their needs

·Providing technology solutions
that are scalable and reliable

·Analysing, benchmarking and developing
realistic future roadmap

·Optimising marketing channels and
identifying new growth opportunities for clients

Recently, PwC’s Seventh Digital IQ Survey 2016 revealed that the
Indian companies are shifting their focus towards digital investments. Over 50%
of Indian enterprises report spending between 11-20% of their revenues on
digital investments. This is higher than the global average of 44% of
enterprises . This DEC is a step forward to help organisations be future ready
especially at a time when clients are looking at ways to create superior user
engagements and take their innovative ideas to the market quickly and in a
scalable way.

Ashootosh Chand, Partner
- Digital Change, PwC India said, “Digital
technologies are impacting industries and businesses alike, with disruption
becoming a norm. Enterprises are looking for solutions that will maximise their
business value, help them identify missed opportunities and enhance their
marketing efforts with direct impact on their goals. The DEC is aimed at
providing clients with a periscope to look beyond the current trends and
prepare for the future in a more informed environment.”

Today atConnect 2016, Symantec
a global leader in cyber security, and VMware, global leader in cloud
infrastructure and business mobility, announced the development of a strategic
partnership to bring together endpoint management and threat security where
Symantec joins the VMware Mobile Security Alliance.

Effective cyber security requires understanding and leveraging the
latest in information intelligence, machine learning, behavior analysis,
zero-day threats and big data. It is crucial to bring this type of intelligence
into mobile security as devices and apps have increasingly become the target
for cyber attacks ranging from malware to ransomware.

In the 2016 Internet
Security Threat Report, Symantec reported that new mobile vulnerabilities
increased by 214 percent in 2015. This validates the need to complement threat
intelligence with comprehensive endpoint management to achieve end-to-end
security from the device to inside the data center.

To address the challenges of increased vulnerabilities, Symantec
and VMware plan to integrate their cyber security and endpoint management
technologies. Symantec and VMware will be working to enable organizations to
have the ability to leverage advanced machine learning techniques through
Symantec’s Global Intelligence Network with integrated identity management and
unified endpoint management via the VMware AirWatch compliance engine.Symantec and VMware look forward to this unique partnership that
will merge cutting edge threat intelligence with industry leading enterprise
mobility management.

“By collaborating with VMware, we will work to deliver integrated
solutions that include the best in security from Symantec with the best in
management from VMware,” said Sean Doherty, vice president of Technology
Partnerships and Alliances at Symantec. “When you combine threat and
information protection technologies with a platform that provides access to
device and application heath with the ability to remediate threats across a
wide range of devices and operating systems, the outcome is incredibly powerful
for our mutual customers. This partnership with VMware will be an opportunity
for both companies to drive innovation in threat management.”

“Customers moving toward the digital workspace model are
increasingly conscious of their device health and posture, and it is crucial
that devices accessing corporate data are secure,” said Blake Brannon, vice
president, Product Marketing, End-User Computing, VMware. “It is our role in
the security and mobility industry to monitor for unusual or risky behavior and
take action against those devices, to protect our customers well before a
threat ensues. Our partnership with Symantec will be focused on addressing
these needs and will offer mutual customers a validated and integrated approach
to managing both device security and remediation across their mobile
deployments.”

Focusing on the rise and evolution of the Internet of Things
(IoT) across industries in India, the National Association of Software
and Services Companies (NASSCOM) has kick-started the 8thedition
of NASSCOM Design and Engineering Summit at The Leela Palace,
Bengaluru. The two-day event focusing on the theme of, 'Imagineering
for the Digital Future' analyses the role that IoT will play in
creating digital utilities especially in the areas of design and engineering
that will drive the growth of future technologies in the country.

Expressing his thoughts on the upturn of applied IoT in India, Kevin
Ashton, Inventor of the Internet of Things and Author, mentioned that,
“ÏoT has started being incorporated into both consumer and industrial applications
being utilized in critical verticals like Healthcare, Automotive and
Manufacturing. The ecosystem is rapidly expanding, owing to demand for both
Industrial and Consumer IoT applications and is set to be a critical part of
the next level of growth for the IT industry.”

On the side-lines of the summit, NASSCOM in collaboration with
Deloitte also launched a report on ‘IoT – Revolution in the Making’. The
report lays emphasis on the growth of Internet of Things, as not just creating
consumer solutions but also adding value in industrial applications.
Reiterating the need for innovative solutions, the report states that the IoT
segment is expected to grow across industries, with Utilities, Manufacturing,
Automotive and Transportation & Logistics providing greater opportunities
for development, compared to other sectors.

Speaking of the focus of IoT in the Design and Engineering
industry R Chandrasekhar, President, NASSCOM, said,”IoT as a
concept has seen vested interests from across industries globally and is set to
become a major differentiator in driving the next generation of services and
products. In India, while the industry is at a nascent stage industrial
applications of IoT primarily in manufacturing, automotive and transportation
& logistics are expected to drive IoT revenues by 2020.”

n-gage, a
leading private messenger app in India, after having gained more than 8 lakhs
of downloads is now launching a program to reward its users. The company is now
poised to give away 250 million shares worth of equity to its global users.
What’s more, India is the first out of 50 countries to be allocated with equity
for its Indian users.

Indian users
will get over 60 million shares worth of equity in n-gage. The first one million founding Indian users
to register onto n-gage, will automatically be credited 20 N-Gage Loyalty
Points (NLP), equivalent to 20 shares in n-gage, and become partners in a
business that they have helped grow.

n-gage has issued 1111 million shares
out of which 250 million shares has been reserved for the benefit of its users.
These shares are owned by Wemet Loyalty Company, a sister company of n-gage,
which is governed by an independent board of directors. n-gage has agreed with
Wemet Loyalty Company that n-gage users will be able to exchange their N-gage
Loyalty Points, for either n-gage shares, or its value when n-gage is sold, or
publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange which it plans to do end of 2020.

n-gage
users, or rather the Champions will be able to earn more N-Gage Loyalty Points
when they get their friends and family to use the app. Further details can be
found in the rewards part of the n-gage app. Each n-gage loyalty point can be
exchanged at an appropriate time with either one n-gage share or its cash
equivalent.

Speaking on the occasion Ajit Patel, CEO and Founder of n-gage said, “We
firmly believe that it is the users who make any app successful. These users
normally get no more than the use of the product for their contribution. With the N-Gage Champions Program, we want
our users to partner in our growth and share in the success. The program aims
to reward users for their trust and love of n-gage.”

n-gage Messenger Crossed I.4 Million Users

Today, messaging apps are everywhere.
According to Harvard Business Review, 6 out of 10 global apps are messaging
applications used by 1.4 billion people around the world. What’s more
astonishing is that this figure is growing by 12% every year.1 But
where would these messaging applications be without its 1.4 billion users?

We often
hear the success of messenger apps such as, WhatsApp, WeChat and Hike gaining a
large user base and subsequent popularity. However, the point that is often
taken for granted is the users contribution to the success of these messaging
apps.Aside from being able to send
messages, what other benefits do these users receive?

Here is an
app that is about to add another first to its name. n-gage, the most private
messenger, which was launched in January this year has already gained more than
8 lakhs of downloads and is now launching a program to reward its users. n-gage
is now poised to give away 250 million shares worth of Equity* to its global
users. What’s more, India is the first out of 50 countries to be allocated with
Equity for its Indian users.

In addition to benefitting from this
exciting reward, users will be able to safeguard their messages and content
from being abused by receivers or prying eyes.
With more than 15 unique privacy features dedicated to helping them keep
their messages private, they will be able to take back messages they have sent
by accident from the receiver’s end with Extract. For complete control, Stop
Screenshot or Stop Copy/Share/Forward, prevents
users’ contacts fromtaking screenshots of conversations, or stops them from
copying, sharing or forwarding certain messages to other people. As all
messages are end to end encrypted, users will now be able to understand the
benefit of seeing encryption live on their device with Scramble, a feature that
pixelates images, and jumble text.

As each privacy feature has been
developed to suit the individual’s needs, even when the user loses his/ her
phone, they will be able to erase all their n-gage data remotely with Burn.
What’s more, users will be able to transfer their important media images and
documents into Safe Gallery, a hidden area which is password protected.

With messaging apps remaining on
trend because of its users, now is the chance to grab the opportunity and
become a partner and share in its success. n-gage, the most Private and
Rewarding messenger is available to download now on Android and iOS across the
globe.

Persistent Systemshas announced that Jacqueline White has joined the company
as Chief Customer Officer. In this newly created role, White is responsible for
all aspects of customer satisfaction and success. She will strengthen the
company’s partner ecosystem to focus on the “how” of digital for customers, and
spearhead new offerings and market-facing strategies that position Persistent
as their strategic partner for digital transformation.

White brings over 25 years of experience of consulting services,andenterprise software experience. Most
recently she served asSAP’s SVP of Global Financial ServicesConsulting andwas a Managing
Director at Accenture leading a national team across 17 sub-industries.

Persistent Systems Founder and CEO, Anand
Deshpande says “Jacque brings success from
a broad spectrum of organizations and roles that ideally mapsto our vision for
our future. The Persistent brand is strengthening. The value of our product
development and technology DNA completely distinguishes us in this new
software-driven world. Jacque and her strong experience will lead our customers
in their transformation into a software-driven business, and strengthen our
partner ecosystem to support our growth strategies.”

Jacqueline White, Chief Customer Officer at Persistent
Systems says, “We are at aninflection point in business and technology that we often
only recognize in retrospect. This is an opportunity to lead it, to forge a new
way of doing things that is fundamentally changing both technology and
business. As the world becomes software-driven, it’s clear that Persistent
combines the vision, products, alliances and services required to be the leader
in thehowof digital transformation.”

Big datainvestments
continue to rise but are showing signs of contracting, according to a recent
survey by Gartner, Inc. The survey revealed that 48 percent of companies have
invested in big data in 2016, up 3 percent from 2015. However, those who plan
to invest in big data within the next two years fell from 31 to 25 percent in
2016.

The
online survey was conducted in June 2016 amongGartner Research Circlemembers. In total, 199 members participated
and shared their investment plans.

"Investment
in big data is up, but the survey is showing signs of slowing growth with fewer
companies having a future intent to invest," saidNick Heudecker, research director at Gartner.
"The big
issue is not so much big data itself, but rather how it is used. While
organizations have understood that big data is not just about a specific
technology, they need to avoid thinking about big data as a separate
effort."

Big data
is a collection of different data management technologies and practices that
support multiple analytics use cases. Organizations are moving from vague
notions of data and analytics to specific business problems that data can
address. "Its success depends on a holistic strategy around business
outcomes, skilled personnel, data and infrastructure," added Mr.
Heudecker.

Getting
Big Data Projects to Production Is a Challenge

While
nearly three quarters of respondents said that their organisation has invested
or is planning to invest in big data, many remain stuck at the pilot stage.
Only 15 percent of businesses reported deploying their big data project to
production, effectively unchanged from last year (14 percent).

"One
explanation for this is that big data projects appear to be receiving less
spending priority than competing IT initiatives," said Heudecker. Only 11
percent of respondents from organisations that have already invested in big
data reported that their big data investments were as important, or more
important, than other IT initiatives, while 46 percent stated that they were
less important.

"This
could be due to the fact that many big data projects don't have a tangiblereturn on investment(ROI) that can be determined
upfront," added Heudecker. "Another reason could be that the big data
initiative is a part of a larger funded initiative. This will become more
common as the term "big data" fades away, and dealing with larger
datasets and multiple data types continues to be the norm."

A
further factor to consider is the lack of effective business leadership or involvement
in data initiatives. Too often, pilots and experiments are built with ad-hoc
technologies and infrastructure that are not created with production-level
reliability in mind.

"When
it comes to big data, many organisations are still finding themselves at the
crafting stage," saidJim Hare, research director at Gartner.
"Industrialization — and the performance and stability guarantees that
come with it — have yet to penetrate big data thinking."

“In the past two years we made incredible progresses in the commercial
client segment. Since its inception in mid-2014, AMD PRO processor unit
shipments increased more than 45 percent enabling businesses all over the world
to simplify IT with secure, high performance, reliable solutions” said Jim
Anderson, senior vice president and general manager, Computing and Graphics
Business, AMD. “We are thrilled to have PC market leaders like HP and Lenovo
expanding their use of AMD technology in their business client portfolios.”

“We’re delighted to offer 7th generation AMD PRO processors in our new
HP EliteDesk 705 G3 desktop series,” said Guayente Sanmartin, Vice President of
Product Management, Commercial Desktops, HP Inc. “We are delivering more
performance, security and flexibility to give our enterprise customers peace of
mind that allows them to focus on their business, not on IT complexity.”

New systems from HP and Lenovo, combine commercial-gradequality, performance, and stability,
with exceptional video and audio capabilities allowing businesses to achieve
more across key areas including productivity, manageability, and collaboration.
In addition, Microsoft Windows 10 Pro features including Device Guard, Windows
Hello, Biometric Security and BitLocker Encryption are fully supported, out of
the box.

“We at Canalys recognize the ongoing appetite across channel and mid-size
businesses globally for more secured, reliable, flexible and cost-effective
technology enablement.” said Steve Brazier, President and CEO of Canalys. “As
companies embrace digital options deeper in their businesses, their
expectations from technology partners will change, making it imperative that IT
vendors deliver products that can make an immediate impact on the market
through innovation, enhanced performance and increased reliability, amongst
other focus areas. The new desktops, featuring AMD processor technology,
provide opportunities for businesses to handle critical challenges without
sacrificing manageability, security or stability.”

·To meet users’ growing compute and graphic demands, new AMD PRO desktop
processors provide up to 14% more compute and 22% more graphic performance
while being up to 31% more energy efficient than 6thgeneration AMD PRO processors.

·Open standards and CPU-agnostic DASH manageability allows IT departments
to easily integrate and manage systems. The new AMD AM4 desktop infrastructure
provides a stable and upgradable platform for the future.

AMD 7thGeneration
Systems

The HP EliteDesk 705 G3 Series desktops, available in microtower,
small-form factor (SFF), or mini-form factor, deliver impressive value with
uncompromising performance, security, and manageability for an enterprise-class
experience. The EliteDesk desktop PCs are more secure with HP Sure Start with
Protection of BIOS Configuration and Policy. This helps to protect your PC and
ensure uninterrupted productivity by automatically detecting and recovering
from BIOS corruption or attacks. The desktops also include TPM 2.0 to secure
data and HP’s full portfolio of physical-security accessories for a robust,
three-layer security solution.

7thgeneration
AMD PRO processors aim to deliver the best performance, reliability, and
opportunity to handle critical workloads and will be available in new PCs from
HP, Lenovo, and other OEMs in the near future.

On an average it takes six weeks and $10,000
to create a motion picture promotional video. What if you could create a video
every 15 minutes at a fraction of the cost? This was one of the many innovative
ideas presented today at the Target Accelerator Program’s Demo Day. Seven
startups - Preksh, MintM, Uncanny Vision, Lechal, Lawbot, Charmboard and Story
Xpress, pitched ideas in areas like digital marketing, Internet of Things
(IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR).

The Target Accelerator Program gives startups a unique
platform to develop, scale and test their products in a live retail
environment. With unparalleled access to retail business know-how and a
community of mentors in India and the U.S., the 16-week program culminated in
an impactful Demo Day that saw seven startups pitch to venture capitalists,
retailers, serial entrepreneurs and the media. The graduating startups have
successfully tested their products across Target stores and its digital
channels. The program also provides a platform for Target team members to
create compelling solutions. This batch included two internal ideas that were
developed alongside the startups.

“We have worked with a broad category of startups and are
excited about the initial tests conducted with several of them. The vision of
their ideas and the far reaching impact it can have is helping Target stay
ahead of the game”, saidNavneet
Kapoor, president and managing director of Target’s office in India.
“Through our accelerator journey over the last three years, we have seen the
Indian startup ecosystem mature and are thrilled to see them address deeper and
more relevant business problems. We remain invested in partnering with the
startups to shape the future of retail.”

The Demo Day in Bangalore comes on the heels of a
successfulretailer accelerator at Target’s U.S.
headquarters in Minneapolis,
which was run in conjunction with Techstars. The accelerator programs are being
used as a springboard for Target to become more engaged with the startup
ecosystem. The Target team in India recently partnered with late-stage startups
to provide solutions for other business needs. For instance, UpGrad is
providing online trainings for team members and startups to upskill on-the-job,
and Blue Birch is solving reverse logistics problems through sustainable
solutions for old laptops, phones and workstations.

Target’s long standing commitment to support the
communities where we live and work is also being realized through the
accelerator program. Target’s team in India is now working with Lechal, who was
part of the fourth batch that presented their demos today, to provide haptic
footwear to the visually-challenged cricket team from Samarthanam Trust, a
partner NGO. Promising to provide ease of navigation, this wearable technology
will enable these cricketers to pursue their passion with more zeal.

With a portfolio of 22 startups and counting, the fifth
batch of the Target Accelerator Program is slated to launch later this year.
Applications can be submitted at:www.f6s.com/targetacceleratorprogram.

HackerRank, a companyhas announced
the hiring of Arunkumar Jadhav as the Vice President of Engineering. In his new
role at the company, he will be responsible for scaling up HackerRank’s
engineering division.

An engineer at heart, Arunkumar brings over
eleven years of experience in software development, applying transformative
digital solutions and a knack for building robust and scalable products. He
joins HackerRank most recently from FreeCharge where he was the Associate Vice
President of Engineering. Arunkumar was one of the first developers who
bootstrapped FreeCharge at Bangalore. He played a key role in growing
FreeCharge to one of the largest digital payments brand in India which
culminated in one of the biggest tech acquisitions. Prior to his stint at
FreeCharge, Arunkumar worked with a wide range of groups at Amazon such as
Payments Platform, E-Commerce and Amazon Appstore.

"HackerRank has disrupted the tech
hiring space and established itself a pioneer in the ecosystem. My goal is to
continually improve and scale our industry-leading platform so that every
developer in the world can access HackerRank to learn, compete, and ultimately
to get hired. The platform has been set, now we need to make it more
robust," said Arunkumar Jadhav, Vice President of Engineering, HackerRank

"Arunkumar’s deep domain knowledge and
experience will help us perform better as a company." Companies want the
best talent, but they are simply not using the right approach to find and hire
talent. There is no dearth of skilled engineers around the globe and it is our
mission to change the way companies hire technical talent," said
Harishankaran Karunanidhi, co-founder and CEO of HackerRank.

HackerRank a pioneer in technical
recruitment, provides a platform for software developers around the world to
hone their coding skills, compete in coding challenges, and ultimately get
hired by the best companies. Companies like Microsoft, Amazon, VMware, Adobe,
Facebook, LinkedIn etc, use HackerRank to source, screen, interview, and hire
software engineers.

LinkedIn recently partnered with HackerRank
for their LinkedIn Placements initiative. The standardized test for any tech
job on LinkedIn placements is done on HackerRank, which makes HackerRank tests
a benchmark for hiring top programmers.

The most recent Great
Place to Work (GPTW) survey ranked EMC (now part of Dell EMC) among the top
five large size IT organizations to work for in India. GPTW also identified EMC
as one of the 50 Best IT & ITeS companies to work for in India.

In 2016 India ranking,
GPTW surveyed 145 companies and identified companies with more than 5000
employees as a large size organization. EMC was ranked amongst the top
five in this category. Earlier this year, EMC had been at #4 in GPTW’s list of
Great Places to Work for in APJ. The organization’s strong focus on people
development and entrepreneurial approach to processes and functions have
contributed to its consistent high ranking in the GPTW surveys.

Speaking on the
occasion, Sarv Saravanan, Senior Vice President, Dell EMC India Center of
Excellence said, “We have a keen focus on team member development and team
member centric policies in Dell EMC, because we believe that great talent is
the key ingredient for industry leading innovation. These recent accolades are
a reiteration of our commitment towards driving value for the company and
ultimately for our customers. We are confident that our superlative work will
continue to win industry recognition in the years to come.”

“It is a great honor
to be recognized as one of the best IT and ITeS companies to work for in
India. Our team members are our biggest asset, investing and prioritizing
in them has a direct impact on customer and partner satisfaction. Our ability
to attract, engage and retain talent is a key to customer and partner
satisfaction, which in turn has a positive impact on business growth and
relative market share. Dell EMC India is proud to have a culture that is based
on an inclusion and diversity. Great Places to Work is a journey and it is our
constant endeavor to excel at providing the best environment, culture and the
work place to our employees. Being recognized for our initiatives is a
testament to our excellence in itself and a motivation for us to accelerate our
journey in our next phase of Dell EMC”, said Rajesh Janey, President Enterprise
Business, Dell EMC.

Dell EMC offers an
array of programs to guide team members on their journey at Dell EMC and
beyond. Through a number of innovative people centric initiatives, the
organization aims to empower employees to develop their careers, and task
managers with helping people to hone skills and seek learning and development
opportunities. Dell EMC aims at creating and nurturing a diverse and inclusive
workforce where each team member’s contribution is respected and valued.

“In these times of
disruption, talent is the key differentiating factor for any enterprise. We
understand this and focus on nurturing a diverse, inclusive and creative
workforce and providing them with opportunities for innovation, growth and
development. Our unique LnD programs, co innovation platforms, D&I approach
and open door work culture make us an exciting place to work. We are honoured
to be featured in the GPTW list yet again; it is a reaffirmation of our
commitment to building an industry leading talent pool”, said Debashis Patnaik,
Senior Director – Human Resources, Dell EMC India Center of Excellence.

Pallavi Kapoor, ‎Head
HR, Dell EMC said “This recognition as one of the best IT and ITeS companies to
work with has captured the attention and energy that we at Dell EMC devote to
employee development. This recognition is a direct appreciation of the
effort that goes in an organization as large as ours, a diverse ecosystem as
India and the complexities that arise. Despite our scale we have managed and
thrived to instill a culture of collaboration and trust where each employee
feels entitled to career advancement. A diverse country like India provides
unique challenges, and an opportunity to refine our practices, which we have
delivered on and been recognized for. Such recognition enables us to continue
our pursuit in attracting, retaining and continuing the advancement of the
careers of a very talented pool of employees.”

Mphasis,a leading IT services and solutions provider, partners withArago, a pioneer in artificial intelligence (AI) and leader in intelligent IT automation based in Frankfurt/Main, Germany and New York, U.S. Together the two industry leaders will deliver cutting-edge automation platforms, leveraging both Arago’s problem-solving AIHIRO(Human Intelligence Robotically Optimized) and Mphasis’ deep domain expertise across niche verticals. These solutions will enable customersto automatically identify, predict, and resolve tasks of today’s complex IT environment, thus significantly improving their IT functions, the flexibility of IT operations and reaching optimal IT costs over time.

With the partnership, Mphasis will augment its offerings in the automation space and build greater market credibility as an early adopter of autonomics driven infrastructure solutions. Arago’s platform HIRO will empower Mphasis to offer best-in-class automation solutions to its customers, as HIRO achieves astounding automation rates even in heterogeneous IT environments. The continuously self-learning platform automates the entire IT stack – even individual applications. It is able to solve trouble tickets and machine monitoring events at every level of operations, which significantly reduces operating costs while improving speed and flexibility.

“In this digital age, success is driven by swiftly adopting technological innovations, enabling companies to perform better and smarter. Although there are numerous complexities that we encounter in today’s hybrid IT environments, intelligent automation has revolutionized the way operations are managed. We want to offer our clients a truly unique solution that relieves their IT from time-consuming tasks, giving them more time to improve their business, while guaranteeing a seamless integration into their IT ecosystems. This is where Arago steps in. Our partner delivers cutting-edge AI technology. Together, we are looking for a rollout of jointly developed solutions that will help our customers to quickly optimize IT costs, drastically enhance efficiencies of their IT and provide better customer service and satisfaction overall,” saidGopinathan Padmanabhan, Chief Innovation Officer and President - Global Delivery, Mphasis.

“The complexity of corporate IT environments is challenging many businesses. AI based automation has become a significant advantage in the digital age as it enables companies to shift their focus from simply managing current IT operations to innovationand technological advancement. Otherwise, they risk
being left behind by their competitors.

Air India SATS Airport Services Pvt. Ltd. (AISATS), India’s
premier airport services company, commenced trial operations of India’s first
integrated on-airport perishable cargo handling centre, “AISATS COOLPORT, at
the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (KIAB). The state-of-the-art,
11,000 sq. meter facility will meet the ever-increasing demands and handling
requirements of temperature-sensitive cargo and will further enhance the State
of Karnataka’s status as the pharmaceutical and perishables hub of India.

AISATS COOLPORT, with a handling capacity
of 40,000 tons per annum, will cater to an extensive range of perishable
commodities such as pharmaceutical products, fruits, vegetables, poultry, sea
food and flowers. It is customized
to offer the most comprehensive cold storage solutions with 17 dedicated cold rooms
with adjustable temperatures ranging from – 25OC to + 25OC.
Designed as a “One Stop Shop” to facilitate the Import and Export processes of
the air cargo industry, the
integrated facility will house a state-of-the-art Drug Controller lab as well
as a Plant Quarantine Inspection & Certification office. It will be
supplemented by temperature controlled queue lanes for unitized shipments and
Cool Trollies to ensure integrity of the cool chain from AISATS COOLPORT to the
aircraft and vice versa.

In recent years, Bengaluru has witnessed a
steady increase in perishable cargo volume, with a CAGR of 15%. With
this new facility, AISATS aims to be a key player in promoting an efficient,
safe and secure cool chain handling for temperature sensitive products.

Speaking on this occasion, Mike
Chew, CEO, AISATS said, “The Indian economy is on a high trajectory of
growth and requires upgraded infrastructure facilities in the logistics space
to cater to the growing needs of the trade and the air cargo industry. Keeping
in view the significance of Air Cargo to the economic growth of the country, we
truly believe that this dedicated state-of-the-art facility will play a vital
role in supporting better trade facilitation, and will further boost the
exports & imports of temperature sensitive products. AISATS COOLPORT at Kempegowda
International Airport aims to bolster the Government of Karnataka’s vision of
turning the state into a preferred air cargo hub of South India.”

“Today, I congratulate AISATS on the trial
operations of the new integrated Perishable Handling Center at KIAB, a first
for any airport in the country. As we move towards becoming the preferred cargo
hub in southern India, it is imperative for such specialized facilities to
cater to the burgeoning perishable cargo demand of this region. South India
with its established presence in the global logistics network has the potential
to create the necessary fillip towards the development of air cargo in India.
As an airport that is strategically positioned at the heart of South India, we
have the opportunity to take advantage of this momentum and be the single
gateway for cargo traffic and shippers aspiring to reach this fast-growing
region. We firmly believe new logistics that redefine the cargo business will
propel us closer to our vision of being the Cargo Gateway to South India,” said Hari
Marar, President, Airport Operations, BIAL

Amazon.in has
announced the expansion of its Seller Lending Program through a strategic
partnership with YES BANK, India’s fifth largest private sector bank. The
partnership aims to develop synergistic solutions for Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises (MSMEs) and SMEs across the country. YES BANK will help sellers on
Amazon.in to profitably grow their business during the festive season by
providing them comprehensive financial solutions ranging from current account,
trade services, forex, payment gateway, business lending and loan products.
Under the ambit of this program, YES BANK has already commenced relationships
with hundreds of sellers on
Amazon India with lending lines at various stages of disbursement.

This partnership marks
the beginning of YES BANK as the primary corporate banker to Amazon India and
will see the development of customized solutions for sellers of different scale
& size on Amazon.in. Sellers will have digital access to the payment and lending
solutions of YES BANK, ensuring speed in processes as well as personalization.
As part of this agreement, Amazon.in sellers benefit by getting additional
unsecured financing at competitive rates without much hassle which in turn
helps them increase their business on the Amazon portal resulting in a win-win
situation for all 3 parties viz. Seller, Amazon India and YES BANK.

Additionally, Amazon
India will provide special services and market access to YES BANK’s SME clients
enabling thousands of medium and small business owners and start-ups to access
millions of loyal customers of Amazon and become part of India’s growth
story.

Talking about
the program, Gopal Pillai, Director and GM, Seller Services, Amazon
India said, “Through our constant engagement with sellers, we
realized that lack of financial expertise can hinder the growth of small
businesses as they scale up which can impact their expansion rate. To help
sellers make the most of the festive season, we have partnered with YES BANK
under our Seller Lending Program to help them catalyse their growth on our
platform by offering them a comprehensive suite of financial solutions. We have
made the end to end process quick and easy allowing our sellers to focus on
their core business while we take care of providing them with hassle-free
financial solutions.”

Speaking on the
partnership, Pralay Mondal, Head, Retail Business Banking, YES BANK said,
“As a knowledge driven bank, YES BANK understands the specific needs of MSMEs
and we are proud to partner with Amazon India to provide comprehensive banking
solutions to Amazon sellers. We are also happy to mentor them by offering
subject matter expertise, intelligence and innovative financial solutions
driven by digitization.”

Earlier this year,
Amazon.in had launched its Seller Lending Program to enable SMEs to easily
access secured & unsecured loans between 5 lakh rupees to INR 2 crores at
very competitive interest rates. The company had partnered with Capital First,
a Mumbai-based independent Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) for this
program which has seen loans worth crores being dispersed to date. The
programme has been expanded to allow a wider gamut of sellers to scale up
before the crucial festive shopping season.

Since its launch in
June 2013, Amazon.in has been working extensively to launch services that meet
different business requirements of its 1.2 lakh seller base and help them grow
their business profitably online. From running an extensive education and
skilling program for SMEs called Seller University, offering Fulfilment
By Amazon (a pay-as-you-go fulfilment service wherein Amazon.in
packs, ships and delivers products to customers, manages returns and does
customer service on behalf of the sellers), innovating Easy Ship (an
assisted shipping service that makes it easy for sellers to ship products
across India), launching Seller Flex (bringing Amazon’s
flagship FBA experience to the seller’s doorstep by implementing the FBA
technology at sellers’ warehouses), introducing Amazon Tatkal (a
service-on-wheels to help SMEs get online within 60 minutes), to building
the largest storage capacity in ecommerce in India for sellers to the tune of
7.5 million cubic feet, Amazon.in has been helping sellers reach millions of
customers across the country.